TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Highlands Today

Streaks Slip Past Tigers

BRIAN GJURGEVICH/HIGHLANDS TODAY

Sebring's Brenita Grant throws a pass around the back of a Palmetto defender during the Blue Streaks' 50-44 victory over the Tigers on Tuesday.

ADVERTISEMENT

By Brian Gjurgevich | Highlands Today

Published: December 13, 2007

SEBRING — Facing the same Palmetto squad that started the Sebring girls basketball team's season off on a sour note, Blue Streak coach Mike Lee was looking for a little senior leadership.

And it showed up just in time.

Sebring scored eight of the game's final 10 points and got key buckets from seniors Chelsea Davis and Brenita Grant late on Tuesday to escape with a 50-44 Class 4A-District 10 victory over Palmetto.

"We talked at halftime about the seniors stepping up and taking control," said Davis, who finished with 10 points. "We came together as a team in the last few minutes and really pushed it."

Junior Hannah Shoop led the Streaks with 15 points and 14 rebounds, including nine boards off the offensive glass. She said the Streaks' success was a matter of the team slowing the pace and settling down, as both teams were plagued by turnovers in the first half.

"Their defense was all over the place, and we were throwing the ball away," Shoop said. "But we relaxed — when we make good passes, we do our thing."

Sebring (8-2, 6-2) survived early miscues to take a 26-24 lead at the half and built the lead to six in the early minutes of the third. The Tigers, however, wouldn't go away, cutting the lead to one after two straight steals and scores and tying the game at 33 heading into the fourth quarter. Palmetto took the lead just once in the final frame, but the Streaks late push avenged the team's first regular-season defeat in two years.

"We're real experienced, and I wanted to see that experience show," coach Lee said. "They got us in the first game of the season, and we talked about how big this game was."

Palmetto coach Robert Kelly said his team made too many errors in the game to expect a win.

"We didn't play a complete game — we made mistakes on our passing game and turned the ball over too much," he said. "When you're playing a good team like Sebring, it hurts you when you don't do what you're supposed to do."

The Streaks travel to LaBelle today before taking on arch-rival Avon Park on Dec. 18. And now that they've avenged one of their losses, Shoop said, the team is feeling confident.

"We've got a bit of our pride back," she said. "That was the first game we'd lost in a long time, and we really wanted to get it back."

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT